Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I must point out that it was seven years ago that the Government promised universal access to services, and we are now in a far worse position. It was the Government that got rid of the National Treatment Purchase Fund in 2012. That is directly attributable to an escalation in waiting times and waiting lists. It has only been reinstated because of the confidence and supply agreement and because of Fianna Fáil insisting that the National Treatment Purchase Fund would be reintroduced. There was huge resistance to that at the time. That is the only thing the Government can latch on to now to say it is beginning to have an impact, but only on the inpatient waiting list.

All of my figures relate to the outpatient waiting list in terms of gynaecology, ENT, orthopaedics and ophthalmology, and in particular children waiting more than 18 months to see a consultant. There is no impact on the outpatient waiting list whatsoever. The marginal improvement on the inpatient waiting list is due to the extra €50 million allocated to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, at our insistence, in the previous budget. Barring that, the fact is that 14 months on, there is no progress with Sláintecare. The Tánaiste should not expect us to believe that it is because we took our time to get somebody. That speaks to a lack of urgency around health and health services and about changing the figures for the elderly, children and people in general, so that elderly people do not have to travel to the North for a cataract operation or come to our offices seeking to work out how to get there. It is not acceptable in any shape or form. There has been a lethargy to the extent that one almost gets the sense that Fine Gael has written off the health services-----

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